Tributes paid to dedicated South Tyneside surgeon Eliot Dayan

Eliot Dayan was born in Cairo in 1925 and qualified as a doctor in Egypt before coming to England in July 1949 with wife Ginette.

He worked at various hospitals in London to complete his training as a surgeon and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in November 1954 before being appointed Sennior

Casualty Officer at the Ingham Infirmary in South Shields in July 1958.

He was turned down for a consultant’s post in 1962 and the couple emigrated to Canada with their young family, where he was frustrated to discover he was unable to practice surgery.

Fortunately, the doctors in South Shields has raised a petition to have him appointed as a consultant and he returned as a consultant surgeon in 1964, remaining until his retirement in 1990, first at the Ingham and then at the General, now South Tyneside District, Hospital.

In his early years in charge of the Casualty Department, Eliot had to personally care for all types of trauma and accident victims as well as those with other illnesses, as there were no other specialist surgeons.

He introduced new ways of performing bowel surgery, trained many young doctors and nurses from the UK and abroad and was invited as a guest to the Queen’s Garden Party for his work.

Former colleague Dr Lawrence Bryson said: “He gave confidence and optimism”, while former South Tyneside General PR officer Sue Hodgson commented: “He was respected by all as a wonderful surgeon and a delightful man.”

Eliot passed away peacefully on August 29 at home. He is survived by his four children and 12 grandchildren,

Son Colin said: “His family are very grateful to all the health and care workers in South Tyneside and Sunderland who cared for him so lovingly and professionally during his own illnesses in his last years.”

Donations in Dr Dayan’s memory can be made to the the Macular Society (ww.macularsociety.org) Colin is collating a book of remembrances. Contributions can be sent to colin@dayan.co.uk

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